Yes, I’m A Running Gadget Geek (November 10 -16)

Yes, I will admit that I am quite the gadget geek, and I do love my running toys. Just this past weekend I got two more, but more on that later. First, here’s my week in review…

Monday
I started Monday back on track with lifting weights. I don’t mean to whine, but I just haven’t been able to get back into my three-times-a-week-pre-arm-surgery-disciplined-self with my weight lifting routine. Perhaps I need to hire a trainer. 😉

Tuesday
I met my MRTT friends for 5 miles around a neighboring community’s trails. We parked at a popular restaurant, and hit the well-lit trails. We finished in 47.32 (9:24 pace), and Kelley and I decided to tack on another mile on the hill where we did repeats during the summer. Can I just say that the hill must have gotten much steeper because I was sucking wind trying to get up that thing! Kelley was loping along beside me like a graceful gazelle, and I was stomping like a mad elephant! We finished the round-trip mile in 9:55 which was faster than it felt.

Wednesday
I met my BRF for the first run together in several weeks on Wednesday. Our focus is always on conversation rather than speed. It’s girlfriend time, and we don’t care how fast or slow we’re going This week it happened to be 5.5 miles at a 10:47 pace. I needed a couple of short walk breaks, and girlfriend obliged.

Later on Wednesday I got in another really good weight training session, but unfortunately it would be my last of the week…

Thursday
Erin met me at my house for 3 miles on the trails in the woods behind my house on Thursday, right after I finished 3 miles by myself (9:25 pace). She was tapering for her half marathon on Sunday, so I gladly split up my 6-mile run for her company in the second half. We ran at an easy shake-out pace (10:28). It worked beautifully!

Friday
Friday was my birthday, and despite my plans to lift, I got side-tracked when I accidentally deleted both last year’s and this year’s birthday letters to myself. I was able to retrieve them eventually, but what should have taken 15 minutes to write that day’s post, took two hours to fix.

I did spend quite a bit of time near my basement gym later that evening when we had friends over to help celebrate my birthday. During happy hour, and I could see my gym while standing behind the bar! Does that count?

Saturday
I started off Saturday bright and early with a great run with friends. It’s easy to get up early when you have friends to meet! We had six in my pace group and we finished 7 miles in 1:04:48 (9:15 pace).

Saturday evening our family went out for dinner together, and I got to open my presents! Yay for geeky-gadgety running gifts! Joseph, Julie, and Daniel gave me a Garmin, and Bill gave me a GoPro! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Sunday
Around mid-day on Sunday, I went out for a run by myself. I couldn’t wait any longer for my first Garmin run! Even though I had it recharging all night, I saw that the battery was low around 2.75 miles (I must have done something wrong). I stopped my watch at 3.1 miles because I desperately wanted to take my first Garmin/feet picture, and didn’t want to miss getting it because my watch died before I got home. I didn’t take the picture when I hit stop, and didn’t realize that you can’t recall it later in the same format. Anyway, I finished in 25:08 (8:06 pace). On my way home, my watch died at 3.07 miles when I was at 26:10 (8:31 pace). I learned that if your Garmin battery dies while on a run, your run is saved!

I also learned that my RunKeeper (I had it running to compare), clocked my first mile on the twisty trail through the woods 30 seconds slower than my Garmin. When I ran on the straight W&OD Trail, the two kept perfect time with each other. I have always questioned the accuracy of my RunKeeper app, and now I know…

On my run, I left the GoPro at home because I hadn’t figured out how to use it yet… Too bad, because I saw a solid white squirrel on the trail! Seriously, about one minute after watching a beautiful red fox run across the trail in front of me, I saw a white squirrel!

I received a GoPro from my husband last year for Christmas. I’m ashamed to say I still haven’t used it. I’m accustomed to SEEING what I’m filming. This is very different and hard (for me) to operate. I need to just make myself use it. Change is good, right? It truly is a wonderful gift. If you have any tips after using, please let me know! PS. I can’t live without my Garmin.

I think I will have the same attitude toward my Garmin as you very soon, and not being able to live without it!

My GoPro has a screen on the back so you can see what you’re filming, so that will be a big help for me. I think they may have just come out with that version. If I have any great tips, I’ll share them!

Sounds like an awesome birthday with some great gifts! I can’t wait to see your GoPro pictures since you’re always creative.
And being in the vicinity of your basement gym totally counts on your birthday 🙂
I used to love my Garmin for running, biking, and even swimming (I have a triathlon version). However, I’ve only used my Garmin a handful of times in the past 15 months and then it was only on holidays to look at the map on my computer later!

happy belated birthday! i have that watch and it took me months to figure out how to recall past runs. if you hit the bottom right button until you get to “history”, then click the top right button, it will show you your past several runs, and you can use the right bottom button to scroll down and the top right button to select and view a run (i think it’s in the same format).

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